FURIOUS householders in an Essex town's conservation area have aired their disgust at the painting of thick double yellow lines on its picturesque narrow streets.

FURIOUS householders in an Essex town's conservation area have aired their disgust at the painting of thick double yellow lines on its picturesque narrow streets.

Residents in Wivenhoe, who have to comply with strict council guidelines on any building alterations, have voiced their anger after yellow parking lines twice the size laid down by Government regulations appeared outside their houses.

In designated conservation areas, yellow lines are supposed to be painted discreetly and less than the standard 10cm per line width.

But people in Wivenhoe, a favoured location for painters, filmmakers and sightseers, have woken up to find the lower, riverside part of the town transformed into what one said resembled the yellow brick road.

In some cases, the double lines are not even parallel, provoking fury among local people.

Paul Ridley-Thomas, of Brook Street, said: "This is supposed to be a conservation area – there are always complaints about the doors and the windows around here."

Laurence Knox, of West Street, said: "It just makes the place look stupid. In my opinion it does look like shoddy work – the lines are practically meeting each other across the road."

Colchester borough councillor Bob Newman, who also lives in West Street, said the "gross" new markings would be more in character outside a fast-food burger bar rather than among the charms of the quiet Saxon fishing village.

He said: "If they wanted to come down and ruin the look of the place, they've done it. I'm not even sure they managed to do all the work in one day.

"I came home once and there was just a single line here and I thought they'd downgraded the restrictions – obviously they hadn't finished."

"It's rather typical of the council's attitude to Wivenhoe – you can bet if this conservation area was somewhere in Colchester, this would never have happened."

Beverley Gould, a manager for Colchester borough's street services, said they would start investigating immediately.

She said: "There may in fact be a good reason why the lines were painted to that size – I'll have to look into it to see what the original order said.

"We'll be sending someone down there tomorrow hopefully and if things need to be changed we'll do it."